Thursday, June 04, 2015

Time Out Thursday - Talking on the Phone

We're delighted to welcome back Harlequin SuperRomance author Tara Taylor Quinn to the Pink Heart Society, as she talks about what she does every single day, complete with giveaways!

Every day, no matter how tight my deadline, or how long my to do list, I stop at exactly the same time and talk on the phone. For an hour and fifteen minutes. I can be racing around, panicked and worried, counting minutes left in the day and pages yet to go, and when the phone rings at that particular time, I always pick up.

It’s my step-daughter calling. A child of my heart. Or rather, an adult of my heart. She drives an hour and fifteen minutes each day, each way to work on her feet for ten hours a day caring for critically ill babies in the NIC U at one of the nation’s largest children’s hospitals.

At the end of her day, she’s exhausted, oftentimes it’s dark, and she has the long drive home, mostly on semi-deserted country roads. From the time she took the job, she called. I answered. We never made a formal plan. It just happened. And has been happening for a few years now.

I guess it’s natural that we talk about her day. Her work. Because of strict HIPPA laws she can’t tell me specifics. I don’t get names. I don’t get private details. But I get procedures. And I get her thoughts about what goes on and why. I hear what she’s thinking as she holds a little one who is struggling for every breath. She works for a very special program.

Privately funded, this program provides a child life specialist to long term care children who have no family visiting them. They not only do as all child specialists do – assist with procedures, advocate for the child’s best interests, and work closely with doctors and nurses to ensure that everyone is on the same page – but they give their patients constant and continuous emotional sustenance. The program works with children of all ages – as does my step-daughter – but her full time responsibility, her patients, are the babies.

I take it all in. Which means it will come out in a book someday. In some fashion. As does the rest of my life. This time it’s showing up in multiple books. In various ways. The Good Father is one of those books! My heroine, Ella, is the charge nurse in the NIC–U at the newly opened Santa Raquel Children’s Hospital. All of the patients she deals with are fictionalized renditions of stories I’ve heard as I stop and answer the phone.

This book is also incredibly dear to my heart because it’s the story of the founder of The Lemonade Stand – the unique women’s shelter I created off the coast of California. Anyone who’s been following the series is probably saying, what? Who’s that? Because he’s been non-existent. A brief mention in the books – which all stand alone – about an anonymous founder. And only when the Stand’s origin comes into conversation. This week, you get to meet him…

Starting over…again...It seems a lifetime ago that Brett Ackerman wanted to share his life with Ella Wales. He really believed he could put his abusive family history behind him…until he realized it would always be part of him. Then he pushed her away. Hard. Now Ella's back as part of the High Risk Team at The Lemonade Stand, the unique women's shelter Brett founded. And she needs his help with a family crisis. But even now, Brett can't admit he still loves her. Until one night of passion with Ella turns Brett into the one thing he fears the most—a father.

6 comments:

That is so wonderful, being a NICU nurse is my dream job and I hope one day I can become one. It is so wonderful that you too talk everyday. I am not a writer but that is a great way to inspire you to write more. That series sounds great.

Emily, If this is your dream job - those babies need you!!! It takes someone who really needs to be there to be able to handle the day to day heartache. I tell my step-daughter so often how special she is. I could not do this job. I'd be spilling tears all day long. But she takes joy in giving them the love and care they so desperately need.